Pediatricians Decide Boys Are Better Off Circumcised Than Not

A reasonable report on a new policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Our Review Summary

This story adequately addressed most of our criteria; exceptions were actual costs and better discussion of potential harms.

Why This Matters

Circumcision has been on the decline in the country although the American Academy of Pediatrics’ examination of the evidence suggests that long-term health benefits from this procedure may outweigh risks associated with circumcision, a stance they have not taken in the past.

Satisfactory

Only relative risk reduction figures were given for UTI and HIV risk reduction.

The AAP website notes: “A slightly lower risk of urinary tract infections (UTIs). A circumcised infant boy has about a 1 in 1,000 chance of developing a UTI in the first year of life; an uncircumcised infant boy has about a 1 in 100 chance of developing a UTI in the first year of life.” This would have given readers a bit more of an idea of what the numbers are.

Nonetheless, the NPR story did a better job on this by giving some numbers than did the competing AP story, so we’ll give it a pass.

Satisfactory

The story attempted to discuss some of the limitations of the evidence by citing the HIV health benefit was mainly based on evidence from Africa. But the story was short on the specifics of the research methods other than noting, the task force, “….analyzed more than a thousand studies.” Nonetheless, we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt on this criterion.

Satisfactory

The article does not rely solely on a press release and attempted to obtain quotes from individuals not involved in the policy recommendations.

Total Score: 8 of 10 Satisfactory

Comments

Ron Low posted on September 2, 2012 at 4:25 pm

The story did not mention that in their report the AAP admits they excluded deaths, amputations, and botched jobs so severe they required surgical revision. Hundreds of US doctors specialize on doing such revisions.

Judith Lienhard posted on September 5, 2012 at 11:56 pm

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